my new car

okay so this isnt really that exciting of a post but this is my new car! Im not stranded or at the mercy of others anymore!! i love it! its a 2007 Sebring in my favorite color of course!!

Heres a cute picture of Melia with my glasses on!

Piranha Pool

My dad recently created an App for the Iphone/Ipod touch... its super cool so you should all check it out and tell your friends!!!

so much has happened!

Okay, so its been a while!
Where to start? well last post I had just found out that we were moving. we are now in our new house in Calgary and despite the weird smells that sometimes show up around our front door and the occasional guest I find crawling around the carpet, its not too bad. Its an old house theres no doubt about that. it creaks, it groans and there is so much about it that I would change if i wasnt renting. oh how I loved being a home owner- which I guess i still am since our house hasnt sold yet. (any body looking for a cute house to buy in Strathmore?? pass on the good word folks, lets sell my house!!)

Back to july..... my sister came to visit with her two twin 3 year olds and her cute as a button 7 month old. Easton, Taylor and Allie. I love those kids!!

first my friend brooke won tickets to 'the best seats in the city' which is watching the stampede parade from lazy-boys!! so fun! i think thats the only watch a parade, next year maybe ill bring my own couch or lazy boy to the parade if i dont win!!!

Jo and I got to go to GOERGE STRAIT!!! i think im in love~~ i had been wanting to go to his concert since before i heard he was coming to town during stampede but it was sold out. on the day of his concert i was driving to the grocery store with cam and melia when i heard on the radio that they had released 400 more tickets. i called my sister to get online to see how much they were.... $160 a piece were the cheapest since they were all on the floor- too bad. but then cam says he wants me to go and he wants to buy a ticket for me to take my sister too. what???? its a late bday present- yup my hubby spoils me!! so i ask jo to go but she says she wont let me spend that kind of money on her,which i normally wouldnt but i really wanted to go to this show and i couldnt go by myself. so i called a couple friends all of whom were not home and then finally called my sister back saying that i was spending the money either way so she could come or someone else was going to benefit from cams generosity. she agreed to come. OH MAN WAS IT GOOD!!! it wasnt an action packed concert like garth brooks or BSB (i know im a teeny bopper at heart- long live the BSB!!!) but it was just so many classics that i love! i didnt know at the time but George has more than 44 number one songs and cant even play them all during a 2 hour concert! im going to figure out how to put video on here cuz i taped one of his songs. too much fun! thanks for going with me Jolanda, and thanks to cam for sending me and thanks to mom who watched jo's kids so we could have a girls night!


Melia had her birthday party on the 25th of july so that Jo, rob and the kiddles could be there before they went back and jay, sher and their kiddles could be there before they left us for BC. it was a scorching 30+ degree day and we went to the lake. Melia was so tired and hot that we didnt get too many smiles out of her but it was a great day anyway! she loved the icing on her cake but didnt dig right into the actual cake.
I had wanted it to be a hawaiian themed party and so i found these cute infant hula skirts online and had them shipped from hawaii for the party. the girls looked so cute in them. i think melia will wear hers for halloween, even if it has to go over a big snowsuit!

well, theres a bunch of photos in the slide show, again! now that we are kind of settled and after the shaw guy gets here and i dont have to steal internet off some neighbor around here i will try to start blogging again on a regular basis. who knows, we'll see!! but in the mean time enjoy the plethora of pictures!!

I like to move it move it....

So.... Our little family is moving to Calgary! Yup, even Cam who said he never, I repeat, NEVER wanted to live in a big city let alone Calgary is halfway excited to move there now.

I am sooo excited to be moving, it will be a lot closer to my parents, which, on days quite similar to today (Melia driving me nuts) I will be able to call up my dear mother and say 'HELP!!!!' and 8 minutes later she could be at my door... instead of the 45 minutes it would take now.
My brother and his family are living in the house we are moving to- they are moving to Victoria B.C for school- and so we tip toed and then jumped at the chance to become 'supportive roommates' with Jodi, Sherilyn's cousin. This opportunity will enable us to hopefully get Cam into school himself, which has been a long time coming.... so excited that we are moving forward with our lives.
One thing I am not excited about though is the timeline- we have one month as of wednesday to sell our house and move so pray that we get a buyer quickly!!

Well, I will try to keep you all posted on how things are going and such.

The Big Apple!!

Melia and I went to visit Taylor, Kaycee, Carson and Gavin In New Jersey/New York this month. It was sooo much fun!
We left on the 19th and Melia was an awesome flier. Charming all the flight attendants and passengers with her smiles and giggles.
We went to the beach twice and Melia loves the sand. She didn't eat it she just scooped and rolled and dug holes and just had the time of her life! I forgot to put sunscreen on my back the first time and had a nice burn that hurt for awhile!

Time square was so busy and wonderful and we loved Central park...I never knew how HUGE that place was!

I tried going to get standby tickets for Regis and Kelly but after waking up at 5 am getting on a bus and the subway and walking a few blocks in the pouring rain I find out they weren't filming that day- boo. But I walked around the park and it was awesome- no one else was there! it was really cool to see a practically empty time square and central park... its because taylor Swift was singing in Rockafellar Plaza. I caught the last little bit of her on the Today show.

We had so much fun and cant wait to go again, if Kaycee and Taylor stick around long enough for me to save money for another trip, this time maybe without Melia.

Sorry this slideshow is so long- over 70 pictures I think! but I figured instead of doing a bazillion posts that,lets be honest, I probably wouldn't get around to until a month or so from now, I did it all in one.

what we've been up to

the first week in May we had a little house guest and let me tell you I was so glad to be back to one kid!!! I dont think i will complain about melia as much anymore (well at least for a little while anyways) because 2 kids is way way way harder than one!! This is a little bit of what we did....

we took baths

we played with toys

we cried a little

we laughed a little


we cried whenever Auntie Tanis/mom left the room


When Peyton went back home Cam and I bought Melia a seat for the back of my bike- she loves it. Don't yout hink she looks so tiny and like a mushroom head!!







Here's some more photos of things we've been doing.





Next post will be our NY trip.

Some Photos

Heres a few photos I was able to round up from last month while Melia was taking a nap!!! yeah for medicine and healthy babies!!

Life is a Journey

Rules: Pick a band or artist, then answer the questions using only their song titles.

My Life via the band Journey:

1. Are you a male or female: “Good Morning Girl”

2. Describe yourself: “Pride of the Family” & "Gone Crazy" :)

3. How do you feel about yourself: “Can't Tame the Lion”

4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: “Separate Ways Worlds Apart”

5. Describe your current boy/girl: “Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' ” & "Homemade Love"

6. Describe your current location: “Here We Are”

7. Describe where you want to be: “Mystery Mountain”

8. Your best friend is: “Small Town Girl”

9. Your favorite color is: “Forever in Blue”

10. You know that: “I Can Breathe”

11. What’s the weather like:“Winds of March”

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called? “Girl Can't Help it”

13. What is life to you: “Live and Breathe" & "Dead or Alive"

14. What is the best advice you have to give: “Don't Stop Believing”

15. If you could change your name what would it be? “Oh Sherry”

Its been a while

well, my dear blog readers. Im back!! My little Melia is finally healthy enough to let me put her down and get something/ anything done! so hopefully I will be able to blog a little bit more frequently now!!

Lets see, its been over a month now since I last blogged- there must be something new?

I have my new computer and I LOVE IT!! its so huge that when i look away from the screen i have little spots in my eyes- its like looking at the sun!!

Melia has two teeth- which she like to experiment with while nursing... That was not a fun weekend for either of us when she tried biting and i tried not smacking the back of her head each time I screamed in pain :)

On the day she turned 8 months (last tuesday) she finally really started to crawl! she figured it out and within an hour she was motoring all around the house... time for the baby gate for sure now!

Cams brother Drew went into the MTC this month. We are so excited for him. which reminds me, we need to write him a letter... I was so good during college when all my friends were on their missions, hopefully I can keep it up with Drew and Denver (when he goes).

I have learned to sew hooter hiders and I like it- I used to hate sewing... well im not in love with sewing, just really like the hooter hiders because im good at it. I iwll have to upload some photos of them later.

Speaking of photos, sorry for the lack thereof but a baby who is crying for 2 weeks and doesnt want to sleep or be put down really makes it hard to snap photos of her let alone want to!!! :)

I'll try to blog some more later but the little one is stirring and most likely wants her momma!

URGH.

*note- this is a rant and may have many run-on sentaces and spelling errors*

on wednesday i spent the day in the city with my mom learning how to sew and had quite a lovely day... then i came home.
we walked into the house and there was this odd burnt plastic smell. first thing i thought was our neighbors iguana cage was on fire again (it happened about 2 years ago and cam had to call the fire department and they busted down the door- nto fun when you live in the connecting side of the duplex!)
anyways, we walked around the house an noticed it got stronger towards the basement, and even stronger towards MY COMPUTER!!! yup, it melted and fried! it was so hot it was sticky when we touched it. so yeah. im computer-less.... how am i blogging you ask? well, my hubby has a *yuck* pc laptop. (im a mac all the way) and so i can blog but i dont have access to my photos or anything... all i can say is a big BIG thank you to my dad who convinced me to use an internet backup site to back up my computer. Im pretty sure I didnt loose much- or at least really important things. all my photography stuff was on an external hard drive so thank goodness for that.but i am seriously so upset! i was planning on getting a new computer but that was going to be in the fall or winter when we could afford it. but with wedding season coming up i cant afford not to have a computer! so this is the one i bought- its a beautiful 24" imac

a lot nicer, faster, more wonderful than my 17 inch imac from 4 years ago!
still...i hate that my computer melted....

Funny Faces

The other night Melia was laying on the ground and I had my camera next to me- she started making some pretty funny faces so I grabbed my camera and tried to get a photo of each one. Cam & I were both laughing the whole time while she just talked and made these faces. Enjoy.

contest

Go here and enter to win one of two wrist key chains. I think they are too cute.

I love my daughter

I love my daughter I love my daughter I love my daughter.

Lately it seems like I have had to say that over and over in my head. Not because she's bad or anything but just because she wont sleep!! I know most of you parents are saying "so what, my kid doesn't sleep either" well, mine did! she was an amazing sleeper from day one and was sleeping through the night at 10 weeks (thanks to this book)
Well, after new years it seemed like she got sick and stayed sick + teething = not a happy baby or mommy! I would get so frustrated and be so irritated that she wasn't sleeping and then I would look down at her and she would give me a smile like this one...

"Okay Melia, you can do whatever you want, you're too cute to be frustrated with!!!"

Anyways, I think she is FINALLY getting back on schedule since she took her full nap this morning and is napping again right now!! Lets hope it last because mommy is not very fun when she is tired!!

Heres some more photos of my darling little girl being so adorable that I just have to smile right back at her!

VERY IMPORTANT!!

My sister told me about this product a while back and was going to blog about it but never got around to so I found the site and decided that I needed to spread the word.

In New Zealand they have practically eradicated SIDS. They found that a chemical that gets released from babies mattresses mixing with the fire retardant chemical found in he mattress and on infant sheets and pjs etc combine and create a toxic fume that is a thousand times more potent than CO2!

I bought the crib mattress cover for Melia and just got it in the mail today. It comes with a booklet with more information on cot death (what they call SIDS) and it is disturbing to me that with all the scientific evidence backing their findings that the US or Canada have not jumped on board with making this product readily available everywhere!!! Jolanda told me she saw on a website related to this that the reason they wont is because they are afraid of lawsuits from all the families who lost a child because of the mandatory flame retardant the government puts on the bedding!

In the booklet they have some stats that I want to share:
Number of babies who have slept on wrapped mattresses since the start date of publicly promoting mattress wrapping (1995): At least 165,000
Reported crib deaths among those babies: NONE!
Reduction in New Zealand crib death rate since mattress-wrapping commenced: 68%
Statistical proof that mattress-wrapping prevents crib death: p=less than 1.9 x 10 (to the -22 power) which is more than 1 billion times the level of proof which is usually regarded as establishing a medical proposition.

Seriously! The cover costs about $35 plus shipping. Its so economical to save your babies lives. It makes me sick to think that so many babies could've been saved from this if only people knew more about this product. Please go read that article, google it some more if you need more information. Pass it along to friends who are having babies or who will have babies or who know people who are having babies- especially those who are on their 2nd or 3rd+ kids and are using the same mattress for each kid. We need to get the word out and keep our kids alive!

if you google sids you get a bunch of information that just seems so retarded and explainable now... this came from a website and Ive put my own little thoughts in italics throughout it.

"Babies at risk

Some 90 per cent of cot deaths occur at the age of six months or less. Babies most at risk are thought to be those among poorer families and those where the mother smokes(poorer families usually use the same fungus filled mattress for each child!). There is also an increased risk in those babies who have had a sibling lost to SIDS (risk increases as subsequent kids use the same mattress) . Other risks include premature birth, low birth weight and babies put to sleep on their stomach (lungs that are not fully developed cant fight off the chemicals as easily and sleeping on their stomach gives them a face full of toxic fumes- which scares me since 2 of my nephews and Melia were all tummy sleepers).

Causes of SIDS

There have been no clear causes of SIDS identified, although several have been proposed. Many theories suggest that the affected baby may have problems with temperature control (when they sweat it causes moisture in the mattress and therefore more fungus grows)or regulation of breathing. When the child is faced with a situation when breathing may become difficult, or overheating may become a problem, they may be too vulnerable to survive. Most children will grow out of these problems as they develop, but of course it is difficult to identify those children who may be particularly vulnerable.

Scientists are still researching these and many other theories, and it's most likely that several of these factors combine to cause SIDS."

Please pass this on or refer your friends to the website up top!!

Like Father Like Daughter

Cam's mom pointed out that the naked photo of Melia in the slideshow reminded her of an old photo of Cam, which just happened to be in our wedding slideshow which I just happened to have all the photos of on my computer... and I looked through the rest of the photos on my camera and found this one.
I knew they were alike in a lot of ways but this is just ridiculous :)

From me to you

This was on my Sister in laws blog and I thought it was kinda cool so I decided to put my copy button to use and added it to mine.
The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me to you....my choice...made especially for you.

Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2 What I create will be just for you.
3 It will be done sometime this year.
4 You have no clue what it will be... it may be a story; it may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something; I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure.
5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog (Only if you really want to. I will still make you something). The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!

6 months

Okay so I have been meaning to post this since saturday when it actually was Melia's 1/2 birthday but life got in the way - and even as I started typing she woke up early fro her nap and I had to leave... teething and colds are a bad combination!!
well, heres the original post that I started on saturday!

Today my little girl is 6 months old!! i cant believe she is so old already!!
time just flies by so quickly... it seems like only yesterday she was so tiny (though I thought she was huge at the time) but it also feels like she has been around here forever- i cant really remember my life before her.
Melia is definitely her own person with her own ideas about things. She finds her dad hilarious at times but other times wants nothing to do with him. Mom, however, has to work for every giggle but smiles are always readily available!
She is the happiest baby and I am so glad that she chose to come to our family becuase her sweet spirit and smile just melts both her daddy and mommys hearts everyday!
we love you Melia Dawn, happy 1/2 birthday!
xoxo

Four-ever

Today marks our Fourth anniversary. I can't believe it has been that long! Some days it seems like yesterday we were married and some days it seems like we have been married for decades!!

In the last four years we have:

-bought a house
-had 3 cars and had 2 of them die
-had 1 dog
-given that dog away
-had 12 jobs between the both of us (Cam says 3 of his were the same job just different bosses...I count them as different jobs)
-had the most beautiful baby girl
-been sealed in the temple
-vacationed only once (in California the first summer we were married)
-acquired practically enough exercise equipment to start our own YMCA
-Just barely started using above mentioned gym - I will loose all my baby weight and then some!
-fallen more in love each day!




Even though I am pretty sure Cam won't read this... I lovest you sweetheart. These last four years have been wonderful, and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life and eternity with you :)
ILUMTMEIW!!!

They grow up so fast!

Well, our little darling has decided that being stationary is no longer a desire of hers. she now does this little army crawl all over the place. I put her up against our fireplace and put her toy halfway across the room and within 5 minutes she was there. It would've taken less time but she got distracted by a rooster! I edited out a few minutes so you wont be bored but here she is being adorable and letting her mommy know that she will be needing to get a baby gate soon!
im excited but not at the same time! she's only 5 1/2 months old.... does this mean she will be walking at 9 months?? can't she just stay my little baby forever??


Also, she has found a few new favorite things to play with. Its funny how her eyes light up when she sees this one.

She LOVES to swing and bounce in her tigger.

She now loves to eat her toes too... I always think its so cute when a baby eats their toes!
(see her favorite measuring tape there on her lap too... she loves it)

Melia also loves books. This is a book she got for Christmas from her cousin Easton. she loves to read it.

Flip through the pages- or watch TV while pretending to read- silly girl!


and...well.... eat it! Maybe she is trying to digest the knowledge it contains :)